It may sound rather odd coming from the mouth of a designer. Yet architect Anthony Duffeleer regards the shape of the Oclock he has designed incidental. Its shape is a consequence of the production process, he explains, which in this case is rotation casting. This is a process in which plastic powder goes in a mould, which is then placed in an oven and rotated. The plastic adheres to the wall and in this way takes on its final shape.

‘Design is an unbelievably pretentious word,’ says the architect, who, together with Freia Rombouts, is the driving force behind the Antwerp firm Frap. ‘A designer is really a process supervisor.’ It is the quest for the right production method that appeals to Duffeleer.

In the case of the Oclock this leads to an exciting, in some ways organic shape. A further benefit of the production process is that despite its generous dimensions – the dial is around 120 centimetres in diameter – the clock is nonetheless light in weight. Duffeleer is also breaking with the standard image of a clock. ‘This design is individual, it has pretension. It is an object that has an almost obtrusive presence in the room. And that’s the idea. Even if the room is otherwise empty, with this clock it is nonetheless full.’